William Still Memorial Lecture

The 5th Scottish Ministry Assembly

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant
above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his
teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the
master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those
of his household. So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered
that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I
tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear
whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. And do not fear those who
kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can
destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a
penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your
Father's will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many
sparrows.

My desire this morning is that God would use my words to inspire
you with courage in the cause of truth. My prayer is that he will
grant you to overcome all fear of speaking the truth of Scripture,
and that you will have the boldness to speak it openly and clearly
when it is unpopular or even dangerous.

Why You Can Be Courageous

There are at least two reasons I feel this burden this morning.
One is that Paul had this burden for his younger apprentice,
Timothy. Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:3, "The time is coming when
people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they
will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings,
and will turn away from listening to the truth." In other words,
"Timothy, it is likely that you are going to have to say some
unpopular things that do not scratch where people itch. I want you
to know this in advance so that you are not shaken when the truth
you preach is rejected. It will take courage to press on in the
face of that opposition, Timothy. So be courageous and take your
share of suffering for the truth (1:8; 2:3; 3:13-14)."

The other reason I feel this burden this morning is because
subjectivism and relativism permeate our culture and threaten to
destroy churches and schools and denominations and movements. By
RELATIVISM I mean the assumption that there is no such thing as
absolutes. What is true or right or good or beautiful for you may
not be for me. It's all relative. By SUBJECTIVISM I mean the
assumption that in this relativistic atmosphere I, the subject,
have the right to determine what is good and bad, right and wrong,
true and false, beautiful and ugly for me without submitting my
judgment to any objective reality or any objective authority
outside myself. This is the air we breath in America today.

Which means that it is extremely unpopular today to take a
strong stand on anything except tolerance. The claim that you know
a truth that everybody should believe or that you know a behavior
that everyone should avoid—that claim is enough to earn for
you the name, Ayatollah or Facist or Ceaucescu.

If you commend a truth with confidence, and make a case for it
on the basis of objective evidences, and call on people with
urgency to change their minds and believe it, you will be viewed by
the average American as arrogant and even dangerous. But if you
avoid talking about truth or give the impression that truth is
unattainable, and if you avoid words like "should" and "ought" and
"must," then you will signal to people that there is no objective
truth and there are no moral absolutes. And then people will see
you as humble.

Confidence that you know some things that all people ought to
believe is seen as the essence of arrogance today. On the other
hand, a sense of uncertainty about what is true and about how one
ought to live, accompanied by a kind of open-ended ethic and an
absence of judgment on controversial issues is seen as the essence
of humility. This is one of the primary ways today that people with
itching ears gather for themselves teachers to suit their own
liking. It is not easy to be called arrogant and dangerous, and it
feels very good to be liked as humble and open and inoffensive. And
therefore the temptation to lose your theological and moral nerve
is tremendous and the need for courage is immense.

Christ Commends Courage

The text for my exhortation is Matthew 10:24-31. The aim of
Jesus in these verses is to give us the courage to speak the truth
of God's word with clarity and openness no matter what the
cost.

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his
master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and
the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the
house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his
household. So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that
will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell
you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered,
proclaim upon the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the
body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both
soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And
not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will.
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not,
therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.

The main point of this text is plain from the three repetitions
of the command not to fear. Verse 26, "So have no fear of them."
Verse 28, "Do not fear those who kill the body." Verse 31: "Fear
not therefore; you are of much more value than many sparrows." So
Jesus' aim here is to overcome fear and instill courage.

But courage to do what? Can we make the point of this passage
sharper? We can. The point is made very sharp in verse 27. Jesus
has something very specific in mind that is threatened by fear and
advanced by courage. He says in verse 27: "What I tell you in the
dark, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim
upon the housetops. And do not fear . . ." In other words the real
danger of fear in this passage is the fear to speak clearly (in the
light) and openly (on the housetops) when that speaking might get
you in trouble.

So here's the point of the passage: Don't be afraid to speak
clearly and openly what Christ has taught you even if it costs you
your church, your friends, and your life. Or to put the point
positively, Be courageous to speak the truth of Scripture clearly
and openly for all to hear even if it is unpopular and
dangerous.

How Jesus Fuels Courage

The rest of this text is motivation: five reasons are given for
why you and I should have courage to speak all that Jesus
taught—the popular parts and the unpopular parts—no
matter what. Here they are (far too quickly, I regret):

1. First, notice the "so" or "therefore" at the beginning of
verse 26: "So (therefore) have no fear of them." In other words,
fearlessness flows from what Jesus just said, namely, "If they have
called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more (will they
malign) those of his household." Therefore have no fear of them.
Does that help make you fearless?

It should. I think the sense is this: Jesus is saying, "Your
mistreatment for speaking the truth clearly and openly is not some
unexpected, accidental, random, meaningless experience; it's just
the way the way they treated me, and so it's a sign that you belong
to me—you are part of my household (cf. Heb. 13:8). So don't
be afraid of the names they call you when you speak out plainly,
those very names bind you and me together."

2. Second, notice the word "for" in the middle of verse 26 (the
NIV often drops these important words): "So have no fear of them;
FOR (here comes the second reason not to be afraid) nothing is
covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be
known." How does that help us overcome fear and be courageous in
the cause of truth?

It helps us by assuring us that the truth we are speaking will
triumph. It will be vindicated in the end. People may reject it
now. They may call it the word of Beelzebul. They may cast it out.
They may try to bury it and hide it from the world and pretend that
it does not exist. But Jesus says, "Take heart in the cause of
truth, because in the end all truth with be revealed, all reality
will be uncovered. And those who spoke it with clarity and openness
will be vindicated. Do not fear.

3. Third, Jesus says, Fear not, you can only be killed! Verse
28: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the
soul." In other words, the worst thing your opponents can do to you
when you speak the truth is to kill your body. And that leaves the
soul untouched and happy in God for ever and ever.

But if you keep silent, if you forsake the path of truth and
fall in love with the praise of men you could lose your very soul.
And that you ought to fear. But don't fear what man can do to you.
All he can do is dispatch your soul to paradise. Fear not.

4. Fourth, don't fear to speak the truth, but be courageous and
speak clearly and openly because God is giving close and intimate
attention to all you do. Verse 30 means at least that much. Jesus
says, "Even the hairs of your head are all numbered." In other
words, the suffering you may undergo in speaking the truth is NOT
because God is
disinterested in you or unfamiliar with your plight.
He is close enough to separate one hair from another and give each
one a number. Fear not; he is close; he is interested; he cares. Be
of good courage and speak the truth come what may.

5. Finally, fear not because your Father will not let anything
happen to you apart from his gracious will. The logic of Jesus is
plain and precious. Verse 31: "You are of more value than many
sparrows." Verse 29: "Not one of them will fall to the ground
without your Father's will." The courage-giving conclusion: No harm
will befall you but what God mercifully wills. As the young
missionary Henry Martyn said, "If [God] has work for me to do, I
cannot die."

So I appeal to you, don't yield to the spirit of the age. Love
the truth. What you learn of Christ in the closet speak in the
light. What you hear in the Scriptures proclaim from the housetops.
And do not fear the face of any man. Amen.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

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